Mia Wasikowska: My worries about my weight inspired me to become an actress

Actress Mia Wasikowska speaks exclusively to OK.co.uk about weight worries and what inspires her to be a better actress

By Anonymous

Saturday, December 25, 2010

After spending the first eight years of her life concentrating on becoming a professional ballet dancer, Mia Wasikowska turned to acting after finding the pressure to be “perfect” too much. She told OK.co.uk: “I was doing dance very intensely for a number of years. Before I gave it up I was sort of doing 35 hours a week. I found that it was so much about achieving a physical perfection, which really started to grate on me. “I was probably half the size I am now and more unhappy with my body than I am now. And at the same time, I was watching these films that were really inspiring me.

Actress Mia Wasikowska says her worries about weight inspired her to act

“What I loved was the imperfections they showed in people and the imperfections in the decisions they made and in the way that they looked. “And that to me felt so much more right, and it was something I was really more interested in pursuing.” Mia got her big break after landing the role of Alice in Tim Burton’s Alice In Wonderland, and she says it was the best way to be welcomed into Hollywood.

Mia Wasikowska says dancing was too much about physical perfection

She said: “Coming on to one of Tim’s sets is like joining a family. But they’re all so instantly wonderful that they make you feel very welcome and very comfortable.” And the 21-year-old, who also stars in The Kids Are Alright, says she’s still coming to terms with fame. She added: “It’s unusual to put yourself out there and know that there will be other people’s opinions. It’s an exposing experience. “It’s a little uncomfortable, I would be happy to continue working and not be so much like a huge public figure. It’s not something that I aspire to or want to be in that way…

Mia Wasikowska got her big break as Alice in Alice In Wonderland

“And there’s an element of that which you can’t control. You can’t really control your image to other people and you kind of hand over a piece of yourself and people will interpret that in their own way and then people will read that and form their own opinion.” But Mia says she’s finding ways of coping with life in the limelight, telling us: “I think the main thing is acknowledging that you can’t control it and accepting it and letting it go. I also have to protect myself in terms of not seeking to know what people think of me, I think it’s probably best just to have a bit of distance.”